227. As to its compulsory nature, Act No.75-023 of 20 January 1975 provides in article 3 that: "Subject to places being available, basic public education is compulsory."

22. Article 1 of Book II, First Title, Chapter I, of the Labour Code sets the minimum age for admission to employment at 14 years. Below that age children may be admitted as employees or apprentices only with a waiver granted by an order of the Minister of Labour, on the advice of the National Labour Council and having regard for the local circumstances and the tasks that may be required of them.

20. There is no legal minimum age for consent to marriage. The minimum age for marriage is the nubile age.

25. Article 61 of the Mauritanian Criminal Code states that: "When the accused is under 16 years of age and it is determined that he acted without discernment, he shall be acquitted." In that case Mauritanian law provides for the juvenile to be handed over to his parents or to an honourable citizen who will care for him for the number of years specified in the judgement.

26. Article 61 of the Criminal Code sets forth the principle of an excuse on the ground of minority: if it is determined that the minor acted with discernment, the following penalties shall be imposed:

"If he has incurred the penalty of a term of hard labour or imprisonment, he shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period equal to at least a third and at most a half of the term to which he would otherwise have been liable under one of those penalties;

If he has incurred a deprivation of civil rights, he shall be sentenced to a prison term of from one to five years."

27. The criminal law provides that a juvenile under the age of 16, with no accomplices over that age, who is charged with crimes other than those which the law punishes by the death penalty, hard labour for life or imprisonment, shall be tried by the correctional courts.

295. The Mauritanian Code of Criminal Procedure provides for uniform treatment of adult and juvenile delinquents. While it guarantees the fundamental principles of justice (rights of defence, presumption of innocence, equality), it makes no provision for special treatment for juveniles. …

296. The Government is also in the process of drawing up a criminal code and a code of criminal procedure specific to juveniles. These two draft codes, based on the Convention, are already well advanced.